As you prepare for your next road trip this summer, you will most likely turn to an internet radio app such as Pandora to keep the tunes flowing and party going. While Pandora can supply you with hours of your favorite music, you will eventually find that your go-to station is going the way of that CD that’s been stuck in your stereo for the past year. Here are some tips and tricks to keep your Pandora stations from going stale.
Easy on the Thumbs
You do not have to rate every song with a thumbs up or thumbs down. With Pandora’s algorithm, it is best to occasionally give a thumbs up. More specifically only to new artists and songs to add variety. Too many thumbs up widen the spectrum of artists and songs while too many thumbs down eliminate the artists in general from your station. When in doubt, just skip the song. This tells Pandora you are tired of the track and keeps the track out of your station for a month while maintaining the station’s algorithm.
Diversify Your Station Portfolios
A key feature you can find under every station within Pandora is the ability to ‘Add Variety’. Just click on the thumb on the top right and by enabling this, you will be introducing more diversity to your station. This will not change any algorithm, but just offer songs with similar qualities you may not find otherwise.
Song Stations and Quick Mix
Plain and simple, stations created with songs will generate better results than stations created with artists. If you are looking for a broader variety of songs, then this is the way to go. However, if you want to be more in control of your song selection, then artist-based stations may be the route to go for you. Finally, when you are tired of a certain genre, just enable the ‘Quick Mix’ feature to mix all of your stations together.
Listen in on Your Friends
Let your friends help you out. In the ‘Music Feed’ section of Pandora, you can follow your friends to see what they are listening to, view what’s on their playlists, or even find out what song they are currently playing. With Facebook integration, it is even more seamless to share stations and songs.
Sneak Previews
You can now preview the discography of an artist on Pandora before creating any stations based on them. Simply go to “pandora.com/[artist-name]” to check out audio snippets of their songs and if desired, you can create the station directly from the page.
